Bureau expects warm month ahead

Wed 26 May 2010, 10:15 AM AEST

The weather bureau is predicting most of South Australia will have warmer than average temperatures until July.

The latest seasonal outlook suggests there is a 60 per cent chance that maximum temperatures will exceed the long-term average in the next two months in areas south of a line from Ceduna to Port Augusta.

The bureau is also favouring warmer than average overnight temperatures, particularly in the far north-east, which is likely to exceed average rainfall for the period.

But rainfall totals are expected to drop off further south, with between just 35 and 40 per cent chance of above average rainfall for areas south of a line from Cowell to Renmark.

Meanwhile, Riverland and Mallee growers have had some welcome rain this week, giving them the best start to a season in years.

As much as 60 millimetres fell in Wunkar overnight on Monday and the rain continued in areas across the region yesterday.

A Rural Solutions consultant, Richard Saunders, says it is a great boost for growers who have been hit hard by the drought.

"Over the last few weeks as it got drier and drier there's been a sense that we're heading into another drought-type scenario - we're going to be left out again," he said.

"But with this rain ... hope seems to rise again and there's a bit more confidence I think in where we can go and what's going to happen to the crop, because I think we've got enough rain to really get the crop up."